


despite the sorrow (i was new again tomorrow)

by lunasasylum



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Bisexual Veronica Lodge, Cheryl Blossom & Veronica Lodge Friendship, Christmas Dinner, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Engagement, F/M, First Meetings, Flowers, Jeronica, Minor Archie Andrews/Betty Cooper, Minor Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz, Passive-aggression, Past Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-09-01 06:49:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16760095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunasasylum/pseuds/lunasasylum
Summary: "Fuck you."This statement floors Veronica and her face heats up as she feels hot anger bubbling underneath her skin. "Excuse me?""No, wait! Not like 'fuck you', like I want the flowers to say 'fuck you'." He explains, actually looking sheepish now."Okay." Then she tilts her head, "You want to passive-aggressively say 'fuck you, through a floral arrangement?'"// or Jughead needs some 'fuck you' flowers and Veronica's a really good (and understanding) florist.





	despite the sorrow (i was new again tomorrow)

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: 
> 
> Person A owns a flower shop and person B comes storming in one day, slaps 20 bucks on the counter and says “How do I passive-aggressively say fuck you in flower?”
> 
> I thought this was cute and I love Jeronica, so, here you go!

Veronica Lodge had been working herself hard that week. She had already done two weddings and a funeral. But, she refused to give herself a break. The holidays were coming around and business was booming, the success of her shop came from heavy business. But, she still did smaller orders as well.

Still, she was flowered when a man about her age came into her shop, looking grim. He probably did something wrong and was buying flowers to apologize to his girlfriend or wife. Maybe he cheated. She was already imagining the "I'm sorry" arrangement she was going to get for him as he walked up to the counter. 

He glanced around for a while and then looked at Veronica. "Hi," He already seemed exasperated, so she wanted to make this fast.

Veronica smiled, her face sympathetic. "How sorry are you?" She cut right to the chase, knowing he probably wanted to get this over with.

But, his face wrinkled up in confusion as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "What?" It wasn't rude, he seemed honestly befuddled by her question.

"You look like you did something wrong," Veronica explained, gesturing at his posture. "Y'know, miserable, hunched over. I get a lot repentant boyfriends and husbands during the week, it's usually just a quick faux pas that they need smooth over. So, how sorry are you?"

Once she finishes explaining, the man's face fills with understanding, then he chuckles, "No, I didn't do anything wrong. I'm not looking for forgiveness actually." He shifts and looks around for another second before turning back to her. "I have to buy flowers for my friend."

"Your friend did something wrong?" Veronica asks, now confused by his statements.

Shaking his head, he laughs again. "No—yes—well not technically." He sets his shoulders and looks more somber as he explains. "He's getting married, he just got engaged."

Nodding, Veronica pulls out a piece of scrap paper. "Okay, I get it, engagment. So, you want the flowers to say 'congratulations'?"

She's already jotting down flowers and beginning to sketch something when he stops her. "No, I don't." 

Snapping her eyes up, she huffs. "So, what, pray tell, do you want them to say if not 'congratulations, I'm happy for you'?" Veronica props her hand on the counter, looking up at him. She sees the bags under his eyes and his dark hair underneath his beanie. He had on a leather jacket over his t-shirt and sweater combination. It was getting cold out now, so it made sense. His dark jeans and combat books made him look dark, bleak.

He was actually cute in the Tim Burton movies kind of way.

"Fuck you." 

This statement floors Veronica and her face heats up as she feels hot anger bubbling underneath her skin. " _Excuse me?_ " She opens her mouth to let him have because it's only her job to help him, not decipher his every thought and need, and it's not like he was being forthcoming about the information anyways. Most guys aren't, but they usually don't lash out at her like this.

Immediately, however, he rushes to speak. "No, wait! Not like 'fuck you', like I want the flowers to say 'fuck you'." He explains, actually looking sheepish now.

Veronica's face fills with realization and understanding. "Okay." Then she tilts her head, "You want to passive-aggressively say 'fuck you, through a floral arrangement?'" 

"Yeah," He rubs the back of his neck, biting his bottom lip before releasing it to speak. "Pretty much, kinda."

She gives him a wary smile, and then turns over the scrap paper, but hesitates to start sketching again. "I'm sorry, but why? Is he not really your friend?"

Shaking his head, he answers quickly, "No, he is. He's my best friend actually."

Tapping her pen on the counter, Veronica continues, "Okay, do you hate his fiancee?" When the man shakes, his head again, Veronica rolls her eyes. "Okay, well you don't hate him and you don't hate his wife. So why do you want to do it? Huh? Did he spit on your puppy? Steal your term paper? Kiss your sister? What is it?"

The man looks down, and frowns before looking back at her, the same sad look on his face as when he came in.

"His fiancee is my ex-girlfriend." Veronica's face turns sympathetic once more as she leans forward to listen. "They got together right after we broke up, but it seemed a little too quick. I think she might've cheated on me with him. I could never prove it, though. Anyways, they dated for barely three weeks and got engaged."

He balls one of his fists on the counter that separates them and Veronica's not sure why, but she puts her hand on top of his. She usually keeps physical contact with her customers to a minimum. She's seen people planning for the worst day of their lives and the best day of their lives, and even then she doesn't hug or touch them. Still, there's something so tortured about him that has her drawn in.

"Oh shit." It's not eloquent. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." The man doesn't move his hand and Veronica doesn't move hers. "So, I just kinda want to say 'fuck you', y'know?"

Veronica chuckles when he says it again, and this time when he makes eye contact with her, he's grinning. She finds herself blushing now, and wanting to turn away from him. "Yes, I get it now."

There's a long pause where's she's just looking up at him and he's only staring down at her, hands connected on the counter. It's a slow, but heated silence.

It only breaks when Cheryl yells for help in the back. Jumping up, Veronica apologizes and runs back to help her. On her way back to the front, she takes a second to recompose herself. She doesn't know why this one, random guy has such a pull on her, and she can't seem to shake it.

When she comes back, he's leaned against the counter, eyes surveying the photos framed near the ceiling. Veronica's favorite arrangements, most weddings, some birthdays, a few anniversaries, none are fuck you's.

"Hey, okay, sorry." She picks up her pen and looks back at him for a second too long before clearing her throat. "So, do you want like an ugly arrangement or ugly flowers."

The man shrugs, "What's the difference?"

"Pretty flowers can go into an ugly arrangement, ugly flowers can go into pretty arrangement." Veronica clarifies, "I can make them look cheap, like you picked them up on the side of the road. Or dead, like you stole from some old funeral home. Or I can put a bunch of beautiful flowers together, but make it look like shit."

"I want whatever you think is right." He smiles, and Veronica really likes seeming him smile. She never wants to see the broken man she saw before her only minutes ago. "I trust you."

She's heard those words from blushing brides, nervous husbands, depressed sons, pretty much every flavor of person in the book. For some reason, it means a lot coming from him. It sounds new coming out of his mouth, like he rarely says that string of words together.

"Okay." Veronica's blushing again now and she hates herself for it because that's twice in less than thirty minutes, and it's also more than she's blushed in the last decade of her life. "When do you need it by?"

"Friday," He belatedly adds, "I hope that's enough time."

It's only three days, and it's not enough, but she doesn't tell him this. "It's more than enough. Don't worry, this is what I do for a living, Mister...?"

"Jughead," He smiles, "Jughead Jones, the third."

Veronica giggles at his name as she scribbles down some ideas and smiles. He takes the pen from her and scrawls some numbers at the top of the paper. "My number," Veronica looks confused so he finishes, "For when it's finished."

"Of course." When he hands her back the pen, their fingers brush for a little too long. It feels like their fingers are tangled until Cheryl comes up behind her and she jerks back again. "Sure, yeah. I'll call you." 

He smiles and waves as he departs. 

Veronica turns back to look at Cheryl who's laughing. Cheryl walks around the counter and surveys Veronica's face. "Pink cheeks, shaking hands, wide grin. Veronica Lodge has a crush brooder boy!"

Rolling her eyes as she continues scribbling on the paper, Veronica doesn't look back up. "I do not."

"Yeah, sure. 'Oh, I'll call you'." Cheryl imitates swooning and laughs as Veronica chuckles with her. "I watched your whole little interaction. The handholding, your sexually charged staring, the 'Oh, poor baby' look. Plus, you have a penchant for quiet, dark guys."

Veronica doesn't respond, she only keeps scribbling while Cheryl continues talking about how she's glad she's gay. 

—

She works hard to do a good floral arrangement for him. She dries out some pretty flowers so they look on the edge of being dead, and puts some of the less pretty, live ones in it. All in all, if she didn't have to make it bad, it'd be some of her best work. 

Veronica calls him Thursday afternoon, telling him he can pick it up Friday morning. He sounds almost excited on the phone and Veronica feels it too.

There's something so exhilarating about angering people in a way that seems accidental that makes it fun for her.

Jughead comes early Friday morning, looking considerably happier. 

"I have to admit, this is the first time I've worked this hard to make an arrangement beautiful, but ugly." She pulls out the flowers and sets them on the counter. Veronica feels instantly lighter when he smiles at her.

"This is perfect." He looks up from the flowers and shifts. "Thank you."

Veronica nods, shrugging it off. "Yeah, of course."

"How much do I owe you?" He began pulling out his wallet, but Veronica refused.

"No charge, this made me laugh and I was too happy to make some 'fuck you' flowers."

Jughead nodded, picking up the flowers. "Thank you..." He trails off.

"Veronica," She finishes for him.

"Thank you, Veronica." He smiles. Jughead pauses for a few minutes, but still leaves.

A weird sadness comes over her when she realizes that it was kind of over. Nothing had really started, but whatever she felt was real and now it was gone. It was like a passing crush on stranger, and somehow it was still more intimate than that. He shared something personal with her, his feelings, and then proceeded to give her control about it.

She shared this intimacy with hundreds of customers, even ones who simply passed by for Valentine's Day flowers, and it was different this time. This was elation or excitement, and it wasn't grief. It was something that had really hurt him enough to make him sad, and he couldn't find a way to say anything to the two people he truly cared about.

Sighing, Veronica tried to forget him for the rest of day. She debated calling him, then ultimately decided not to. He was already dealing with something, and maybe he wasn't over it. Maybe he didn't want a girlfriend.

These thoughts plagued her day as she took more orders and started organizing some plans. Cheryl was packing up as Veronica promised she'd be fine closing for her today.

"You sure, Ronnie?" She asked, even though she was already halfway out the door.

Shrugging her off, Veronica laughed, "Go have dinner with Toni, I'll see you at home." 

Cheryl paused and turned back around. "Call Misery, I'm sure he'd love to here from you." Blowing a kiss, Cheryl left the door chiming as she exited.

Veronica continued working, filing away some papers and going over their orders and open arrangements for this month. Things were going pretty well for their shop, even though this was her first solo endeavor since shaking off the stranglehold her parents had on her life.

As she continued examining the accounts, the door chimed again. "One second!" She called, making sure to put the papers back in their proper place before shutting the back office door.

When she rounded the corner, she was pleasantly surprised to see Jughead standing there, red-faced and slightly panting.

"Hey," Veronica grinned. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah," Jughead sighed and took a minute to catch his breath before continuing, "No."

Frowning and feeling her palms start to sweat, Veronica wiped them on her jeans. "Is there something wrong with the flowers?" She hated the way her voice sounded, too vulnerable. Her work was personal and it's not like request was easy.

"The flowers are great. It's me, or it's you, or it's us, actually." Jughead smiled, just a bit crooked, eyes dancing and nervous. "I was wondering—it kinda seems stupid now seeing as how we've only had two proper meetings and I don't even know your last name, and for all you know I could be a serial florist killer— I wanted to know if you'd like to come with me? To see them? To the Christmas dinner. I have a plus one, so it's fine."

He's almost rambling now, but seeing him so visibly embarrassed makes Veronica feel a lot better about thinking about him. all day. "You obviously don't have to. I just feel bad about not paying you, and I mean you worked really hard on this, and it only sees fair that you get to see something—"

"Is that it? Just compensation?" Veronica felt herself frown a little, but he rushed speak after her.

"Not just compensation, I, um," He looked even more sheepish now. "It would suck for this to be our first date, but I want to date you. This doesn't have to be our first date, I just wanted to ask you if you would like to, or if you even could. Y'know, I don't know if you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, or if you're married. But, if none of those apply and you see something attractive in me, I really would like to date you."

Veronica's smile is wide and bright as she nods, "Sure, I'd love to come see your ex-girlfriend and best friend react to their 'fuck you' flowers as our first date."

Jughead laughs, it's a warm, mild one that flows over her skin and burns something bright on her insides.

"Cool," He nods.

Going to the back, she grabbed her purse and her sweater and she makes sure to text Cheryl and leave her a note with Jughead's phone number in it. If anything happens, Cheryl's an impeccable artist with an amazing memory, she knows what he looks like.

Jughead's waiting when she comes back, hands stuffed in his pockets, looking genuinely happy.

The drive to the house short and fast and Veronica quickly learns that she and Jughead have a lot in common. They read the same books, like the same movies, have a similar disdain for certain types of music.

To make up for laughing when he tells her that his name is Forsythe Pendleton the third, she tells him that her middle name is Cecelia. She's caught off guard when he doesn't laugh, and instead tells her that it's a beautiful name.

When they arrive, she notices that he's nearly vibrating next to her. "Sorry, I just don't want this to turn out horribly."

"We can still go get a pizza." Veronica laughs, but still entirely serious. She knows this probably isn't easy for him and wants him to know he has an option. "Go play pool. Rock climbing. Skydiving. Whatever seems easier than this."

"Admittedly, I don't start a relationship by introducing a girl to my ex and her fiancee," Yet, he grabs her hand and holds her flowers in the other. "I'm okay, if you are?" He's looking at her in genuine question and refuses to move until she nods and confirms her comfort.

When they walk in, Veronica feels herself clinging to Jughead. It's been a long time since she's dated someone and an even longer time since she's felt nervous like this. She wraps another hand around Jughead's single one and he gives her two short pulses, letting her know it's fine.

He leads the way to the dining room, where a blonde woman and a redheaded man are talking in a corner.

The woman had a cute, passive face. She looked too sweet to have cheated on somebody, maybe Jughead lied. This thought briefly crossed Veronica's mind as he handed them the flowers. But, she had also learned how to read people fairly well. She saw the disdain, the fleeting contempt, and slow disgust on her face when she sees Veronica hanging on to him.

"Hey," Jughead hands her the flowers and Veronica watches her face wrinkle up in shameless scorn. "Betty, Archie, this is Veronica."

Veronica gives an awkward wave, but Archie extends his hand. Veronica shakes it but, Betty on sets the flowers down on a nearby table. "I'm the florist who did the arrangement." She clarifies, and watches Betty's face twist up even more.

"Oh," Betty gives a tight smile. "Well, it's good for your first time."

Veronica clucks, then tilts her head. "I've been florist for three years, I've made hundreds of arrangements." Admittedly, Veronica knew that it wasn't pretty but that was the point. Still, she was defensive about her work. And she most definitely did not like having it criticized by her.

"Really? I couldn't tell." Betty giggles a bit, in a way that seems sweet but is not.

Squaring her shoulders, Veronica is almost ready to go all in, but Jughead squeezes her hand again, then pulls her in closer by her waist. He leans down and whispers against her ear. "Behave for me, please." 

She shivers at his words, yet she nods at his request. He files away that reaction for another time.

"Congratulations." Jughead smiles, and takes his seat at the dinner table. Veronica sits next to him but she feel Betty staring at her as they sit.

The house is decorated greatly for Christmas. The tree is huge and there's holiday music playing in the background. Veronica doesn't really celebrate Christmas, she has a lot of business during this season and doesn't find the time. The home looks like something out of a magazine.

Veronica leans over to whisper, "Has she always been a bitch?"

Jughead snickers over his palm. Betty is sitting across from them, but Archie's at the head of the table. There's still a few empty

The door swings open and sound of boots and then high heels follows.

"Jug!" Toni exclaims as she walks into the dining room.

Jughead gets to feet as Veronica gets to hers. "Cheryl?"

"Ronnie?"

Toni looks from Cheryl to Veronica, "This is woman you work with at the flower shop?"

Cheryl stares at Jughead, "That's your best friend from high school?"

Betty and Archie are at their feet now. "You two know each other? Betty asks, incredulously.

"I work and live with Cheryl—" Veronica starts.

"And, Toni's my girlfriend," Cheryl continues.

"Jughead and I went to high school together" Toni interrupts.

"I just haven't had time to meet Cheryl because I've been working so much." Jughead adds.

All four of them look at each other in surprise. Then, Veronica rushes over to hug Toni. "Hi, I'm Veronica, the best friend." She wraps her arms around the smaller woman and grinned when she felt her hug her.

Jughead walked over to shake Cheryl's hand. "We sort of met, but not properly." 

Cheryl chuckled and gave him a quick hug. "So, the boy my best friend's been mooning over is my girlfriend's high school classmate. Small world."

"And getting smaller by the second." Betty says, though her words sound clipped.

"This is my cousin, Betty." Cheryl introduces Toni to her, while Veronica glances back at Jughead and mouths 'cousin'.

She yanks Jughead down to whisper in his ear, "How did you not know that your ex-girlfriend's cousin is my best friend?"

Jughead shrugs, "We didn't spend a lot of time running through her family tree for people who might know the cute florist a few streets over."

When they all sit down again, there's a certain air of awkwardness. Finally, Archie gets up to speak. "So, everyone, I'm glad that we could all get together to celebrate our engagement, and Christmas. I'm just excited that I will get to spend the rest of my life with her."

Maybe it's for Jughead's benefit, maybe it's because Veronica's feeling a little cynical, or maybe it's because Betty called her amateur, but she leans over and murmurs to Jughead, "He does know that fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce, right?"

Snickering, Jughead tries to contain his laugh and loops his fingers through Veronica's as he listens to Archie ramble on about true love and soulmates.

Veronica glances back at Cheryl, who lifts her phone as a signal to Veronica. 

Sliding her phone out of her purse with her other hand, Veronica checks her messages to see one from Cheryl.

_1st date???_

Looking up at Cheryl whose eyes widen considerably, Veronica quickly taps out a response. 

_(Un)Happy_ _accident ??_

Cheryl rolls her eyes as she reads this, but Archie finally sits down as they get the food and finally start eating. There's warm silence while everyone eats and talks, and then Betty speaks up again.

"So, Veronica," She says Veronica's name the same way you would say "diarrhea", with disgust. "Why don't you tell us about yourself? I mean, you're the only one who's really new here."

As a former mean girl in high school, Betty's tactics aren't lost on her. She's done this before, "Alienate the New Girl". It's easy to make someone feel like they don't belong, especially when they don't have a firm place in the setting.

"Well, I grew up in the city, went to college and met Cheryl, then after I graduated, I came to Riverdale with, I opened the flower shop." Veronica's summary is quick, there's nothing really to pick at. 

Yet, Betty still finds something. "Why'd you follow Cheryl to Riverdale?"

"I didn't really have any concrete plans after college, it wasn't supposed to be permanent. But, I just liked the setting, so I put down some roots, and decided to stay." Veronica's words come easy and maybe it burns Betty a little too hot.

Cheryl and Toni drag her into a different conversation and Veronica turns her attention to them. Still, she notices when Betty asks Jughead to help her bring out desert.

She waits a minute before excusing herself and rounding the corner to listen in. It's mostly hushed whispers, but Veronica can still make them out.

"I can't believe you brought her here Juggie!" There's the clinking of some forks and other dishes before Jughead responds.

"You said I had a plus one!" Jughead defends.

There's the sound of pouring then more speaking. "I mean to my mother's house, parading her in front of me. Where'd you pick her up? She's snobby, conceited, and I'm finding it hard to believe she actually a florist, because those flowers were hideous. They looked half-dead!"

Then a dull slamming, before Jughead interrupts. "Stop it! I like her, she makes me feel...seen. Which more than I can say for you, you were half out the door when we started dating. She's nice and you would know that if you stop interrogating her and listen to what she's saying. She's a sweet girl and if you don't like it, then...then I'll just go."

Betty says something Veronica can't make out, then she rushes back to her seat.

Jughead comes back, a little miffed, but not too much worse for wear. He sets the cake on the table while Betty brings the champagne. When he sits down next to Veronica, she sets hand on his knee.

"Are you okay?" Jughead nods, and Veronica presses a quick kiss to his cheek. He lays his hand over hers while everyone talks. The rest of the night goes about quite amicably, even though Betty keeps throwing glances every time Jughead leans into Veronica or when she makes him laugh.

Veronica, however, enjoys talking with Jughead. She likes that he's just a bit morbid, it's his dark humor that makes her laugh.

As the night ends and some of their friends leave, Veronica clings to Jughead. Cheryl and Toni say their goodbyes at the door and are quickly off into the winter night.

Then, it's just Archie, Jughead, Betty, and Veronica. 

Archie's telling Jughead about how his father is doing, how his business is working. So, Veronica is left with Betty.

They don't talk much, and Veronica pays attention to her phone. It's not quite late, but the night is slipping away.

Finally, Betty speaks up.

"Look, I don't know what your plans are with Jughead, from what I hear it sounds like he picked you up on a whim." Veronica opens her mouth to argue back, but Betty keeps speaking. "Listen, I know he's not what you're used to, your rich, Hamptons boys or whatever, but he's special. Don't come and sink your claws into him, messing him up, and then hurting him."

Veronica scoffs and rolls her eyes. "Well, from what I hear, Betty," Veronica pops the 'b' in her name. "You've done a pretty good job of that yourself. You didn't think he wouldn't notice that you cheated on him, with his best friend?" This time when Betty tries to speak, Veronica puts her hand up to stop her. "I've done some dirty things, but nothing like that."

She gets to her feet to get Jughead and leave. At the door, the farewells are quick and clipped as Jughead takes Veronica and leads her out.

Once they make it inside his car, he sighs and leans his head against the headrest.

"Was that the worst first date in history?" He groans, starting the car so heat would warm them up.

Veronica chuckles and shakes her head. "Nope, close, but nope."

"So, I didn't totally ruin whatever this could be?"

"Not yet, Jones." 

Jughead smiles and turns to look at her. Veronica grins and reaches over to brush a hair from his face. He catches her hand, lightly interlocking their fingers. "Thank you, Veronica, for tonight. It was very special."

He leans over, finally kissing her square on her mouth. She slips a hand around his neck, kissing him back.

When they finally, pull apart he rests his forehead against hers.

"Anytime."

_You've got me, anytime._


End file.
